It's evident why the Banks would like to see the end of cash transactions. A payment moved around electronically presents them with an opportunity for extracting a "handling charge", whilst a £20 note changing hands provides no such room for enterprise. The Capitalist system harbours large numbers of people who make a good living without actually producing a tangible product, simply by intervening between buyer and seller. Government is a prime example, extracting taxes from what people earn, and again when they spend any of that taxed income.Others who take a cut of our money whether we like or not enter upon the scene when, for example, we buy or sell a home. Stamp Duty apart, we find ourselves paying Estate Agents, Lawyers, Valuers, Movers, Insurers and Lenders on top of any tradesmen needed for repairs, decoration or maintenance, whose work you can at least see. A small levy upon every electronic movement of money around that system can soon become serious profit. On the purely financial scene, Visa, Mastercard and Amex can collect from both buyer and seller, as does Paypal, with ApplePay now permitting a single complete remote transaction of selecting, ordering and paying seamlessly on your smartphone. Oystercard at least requires your physical presence ar a till, though underlying all such transactions is another sucker in the form of Credit Information Agencies whose charges whilst invisible are unavoidable.A cashless society will make the disadvantaged even more so, as they are effectively excluded from all the wonders which flow from Direct Debit. But it's not all bad news, the boss of a company named Worldpay is set for a personal £50M windfall if it floats on the stock exchange next month for the anticipated £5bn.

Today's "news" confirms that Tesco was making extra profit at the expense of its suppliers. Not unlike other Supermarkets you might care to name, or many many other large companies that use their smaller suppliers as a cheap alternative to bank-borrowing.

Trade Terms are usually 30 day settlement of accounts, but as far back as 1992 I remember a High Street bookseller writing politely to its suppliers to say, don't waste your time sending us a bill - we'll pay you what we think that we owe. At the same time a DIY retailer informed its suppliers that as times were hard, 7½% would be knocked off all bills "to spread the load".

News in the City of London this week is of a hostile takeover bid by an American firm called Harbour Vest (no connection with underwear) of a company here called SVG Capital.

The bid is worth £1bn - for a company which has paid its Chairperson £16m over the past four years. SVG does not manufacture anything, nor have a presence on the High Street, nor sell things on mail-order. This "billion pound company" employs no more than twenty people, for the purpose of investing shareholders'cash in Private Equity Funds. A task made considerably easier recently by the Bank of England's quantitative easing (printing money) which was designed to increase the amount of Capital available for investment.

All perfectly legal, but to the average wage-slave might seem akin to rubbing Aladdin's Lamp.

In fact as I predicted in my opening post 'things' have got a lot worse. Not in terms of (perceived) personal wealth, but in terms of happiness, fulfillment, quality of life etc. These are different, and IMO far more important measures of who and what we are.

Since my OP in 2011 I haven't given up. In fact I've grown more confident in what I am proposing and I'm even more determined to continue. I've established a website to further the Changing Britain Vision objectives. This can be found at peopletakecontrol.com

Cutting Edge has proven to be an excellent sounding board for my original thoughts. Please help as I step up my efforts t.hroughout 2017

Today's news includes: "After making two poorly received statements, United CEO Oscar Munoz has apologized to Dao and the other passengers on the flight."

You know what that's about. It's a worrying reminder of the impunity with which Capitalist business goes about making a corporate profit. Nothing is allowed to stand in the way of just making money. The Company has no other raison d'etre . It's a money machine or it's nothing.

This odd little news item should tell us how close humanity is to becoming subservient to decisions taken secretly in a Boardroom somewhere.

Because if you are not already "Rich" it may be that you are not all that interested in being so. Enough is sufficient, right?

The problem arises in deciding how much is "enough". Millionaires may commit suicide when they're down to their last £30,000. Which is all down to life-span. "Three-score years and ten" suggests the Holy Bible, but statistically the average British male will survive until the "early eighties" - which is still a bit too vague when you are actually eighty-five, and wondering whether that £30K might actually be OK.

Inheritance is what truly weighs upon the parental mind. Everybody wants to leave something to the kids. But in many cases they actually need it NOW - to get out of renting and buy their own bothy.

Me too - my OH has calculated the amount that would replace his average earnings for the period until he can claim his pension - this is his price.If he wins that sum, or more, on the lottery, or inherits or otherwise gets hold of that amount - he will retire and cultivate his garden, and he will be contented for the rest of his life. Each year, his desired amount grows smaller - so his hopefulness increases and he feels nearer to contentment

Good morning everyone. Thank you for attending our Presentation, "What does the future hold?"

The Internet will not only take advertisers into people's homes, it will tell you what they do there and what their preferences are. No longer will you say, "half of what I spend on advertising is money wasted, but I don't know which half." You will be in direct contact with people who want to buy what you are selling.

Surfing the web has long been a two-way street. We know what the viewer is looking at, and obviously which adverts interest them enough to click onto. We know what TV programmes they like, and sell them cheap plug-in devices that let them see more of the same, but carrying YOUR advertising. They can be persuaded to BUY a device that sits in their home to provide answers to their questions, answers which can include information YOU might want them to have. You can be in continuous dialogue with a target audience - without them ever realizing that.